Army of the Republic of Vietnam

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) were the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from 1955 to 1975. The ARVN's main purpose was initially to combat communist Viet Cong insurgents in the country at the start of the Vietnam War, but it later had to fight against the North Vietnamese Army after 1959. The ARVN was backed by the United States, and it was soon relegated to the sidelines after the US Army and US Marine Corps were sent to the front lines in 1964. By the time of the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the ARVN had 495,000 troops, 475,000 regional troops, and 381,000 local militiamen. The ARVN suffered 1,394,000 casualties during the war.